


Tony's Angels

by aceofhearts88



Series: STRIKE Team Alpha Series [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Iron Man 3, Dreaming, STRIKE Team Alpha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5031772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the break-up and the choice to go completely sober, Tony’s dreams basically vanish over night. The nightmares disappear and instead get exchanged with complete insomnia on his bad days, but he can live with that, they’re a bunch of messed up superheroes, someone is always awake. You don’t have to be alone if you don’t want to.</p><p>When Steve and him get to the painful conclusion that the missing Strike Team Alpha might have been in Brock Rumlow’s hands for months already, he falls into the bed at night and dreams about a world where Barton’s girls hadn’t been captured and instead came for him in his most embarassing moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tony's Angels

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for "Walking it Off" up until the last chapter in a way, can be read on its own though and nothing is majorly spoilered.
> 
> A first look at the all female Strike Team that gets mentioned quite often, but who exactly are these girls that Steve and Tony are searching for now? A dreaming Tony might just give an answer.

He had a headache, one of those that slowly burned you out from behind your temples, while you still thought you could push on. Tony was almost glad that Steve had put his foot down and dragged him off to his quarters, and gone so far as to threaten him with sitting on him to make sure Tony would rest. And Tony hadn't realized until then how exhausted he really was, but the lack of any potential comebacks or witty innuendo in his head had hit him like a brick wall and he had stared into Steve's suddenly smirking face at having had the last word for once.

Huffing, Tony had stumbled over to his bed, kicked off his shoes and fell face first into the pillows, not even feeling anymore how Steve chuckled and pulled the blankets over him before leaving. They were so close to a breakthrough with their secreet project, could both feel it right there out of reach, all facts, all evidence leading straight to something, but unfortunately, Hydra would still be there tomorrow and could wait for them to have a full night's sleep.

\--

And for the first time in weeks, Tony dreamt. It hadn't happened since before the break-up already, his nightmares now exchanged with complete insomnia, which was still easier to deal with. Especially in a base full of messed up superheroes with enough issues to have psychiatrists drooling in glee, someone was always awake. Someone was always around to spend time with, to distract from your own problems.

Whether it was Clint midnight cooking with a half sleeping, half distressed Pietro sitting at the kitchen table. Clint pacing in front of the TV. Steve frowning at the stars. Sam clicking through the channels. Rhodey brooding. Natasha sharpening knives on the couch. Wanda watching the coffee drip into her cup. It was easy to find companionship in the night.

But tonight, Tony Stark was dreaming.

\--

 

\--

Still bound to the ugly bedframe, Tony tried to keep the panic and the hopelessness hidden behind the anger and the hot white rage, he had no time to freak out right now, had no time to even think for a second of what would happen if the suit wouldn't come. He had to save Pepper, had to get to Rhodey, stop this whole nonsense.

Alone.

Simply alone in case the suit wasn't coming anytime soon...how about now?

But another quip at the goons standing in front of him and another round of whipped up hands left him with nothing but another ugly round of laughter. God in heaven, Jarvis, time out in the shame corner for the next three years.

Come on, Tony, he berated himself in the next second, think of something, you don't need the suit to be Iron Man. Iron Man is you. You got in here without a suit, you can get out without one as well.

The Dora watch beeped again and he threw himself with all his strength against the bedframe, the idiots just laughed again. Oh, how he would blast their faces off, "You won't even have anything left to give to your ugly faced mothers.", and oh really, jeez, Stark, already with the mother insults, you're better than this.

Goon one stalked over to him, probably the one with the more pronounced Mommy issues, Tony had seen his fair share of that in his life already. Lips got pursed and urgh, seriously, spitting, what are we, five? 

"And I will start right off with you!", Tony promised and just for the sake of it tried his hands again, and then froze as the man crowded close into his personal space grew very still for a split second and then fell over like a stone, "Yay.", Tony cheered and the other AIM goon whirled around, gun drawn but before he had even had time to access the situation, he was met with the same fate.

"Double yay for me.", Tony grinned and then froze again, smile falling from his lips, since when did the suit shoot without his orders...snapping his head around to the window front, he blinked, trying his hands once more. Had he integrated sniper skills without being aware of it? Emergency override from Jarvis because he was in danger? Was he that good? 

The glass was still intact, so the shots had been taken through the small gap of the propped up upper half of the left window. And wow, damn, what a shot. Shots. And no sound as well, silencer. Holy crap. That couldn't have been the suit, no way in hell. He only knew one person who could shoot like that and be as neat as this, and if Jarvis put him in the suit, there would be words, lots of words.

But then again, Barton, not that bad of an idea right now. Anyone would be cool.

And then the windows exploded. Exploded at the same time that the doors got slammed open by a group of heavily armed AIM soldiers.

What's the saying again, out of the frying pan, right into the open firefight. Only you, Stark, only you. And still without a suit.

He pressed himself back against the bedframe as two black clad figures swung themselves through the now wide open windows, cutting the rope in midair and twisting their small bodies to hit the ground in a low crouch right in front of Tony while the armed men still pushed into the room, guns drawn. Glove covered hands reached back and tugged a knife each out of the holsters around their hips, and then brought it slowly up front. Tony couldn't help but let his eyes roam over the two fighters at his feet.

Black kevlar cat-suits, like Romanoff wore them. Black thin and tight combat boots, manufactured to hug the foot and the lower leg tightly and still provide protection against most knives. Bullet-proof kevlar vests covered their chests and back. Black balaclavas covering their heads and faces, tips of brunet hair peaking out at their backs, but what caught his attention was the symbol on their shoulders, pink and purple, and nothing he had ever seen before.

Everything came to a tense standoff, him protected by the two motionless assassins and the weapons raised line of AIM men faced off against them. How about a suit now, Jarvis. 

But nope, no suit of course. 

Instead the assassins flew into action not a second after a hidden sniper took out two more men. And Tony knew his life had truly become ridiculous and movie worth, when bad guys were suddenly fighting over him. Could be a good movie, action, mix in some espionage and some romance and Hollywood could truly make some money with it. 

Shield would probably have something against that, but when was Fury not nitpicking everything Tony was doing. And hey, if you want to sabotage my movie dreams, pirate man, why don't you come in and stop me from watching the script write itself.

Where was Shield by the way, wouldn't have Fury had an aneurysm already after Tony's house got blown up, he was a consultant after all. And Fury just loved to rub his mistakes into Tony's face.

\--

He could almost forget the lack of a certain suit in the room and round him while he watched the two assassins take down a row of men as if it was nothing. Child's play. And well, they do looked rather small. But no child fought like this. So precise, so instinctual. Smooth moves but every kick, every punch, every stab still lethal. Every twist of lithe bodies like a dance, every step, every jump, everything counted to bring maximal damage.

It was by far the most beautiful thing Tony had seen in days.

At some point, purple marked assassin had switched the knives for ninja stars and Tony felt his brain come to a stand still, because he only knew one person who could fight like this and handle ninja stars like an extenction of their arms.

Fury, you son of a bitch.

Not far from him Shield Strike Agent Julie Seaway backflipped off the wall and took out two men with flying stars, landing smoothly on the shoulders of a third, sliding her legs around his neck and bringing him down all perfect Widow style. Only to snap out her hands once she was crouched on the ground to push her partner up into the air before rolling away from a series of gunshots.

Her partner, Shield Strike Agent Tess St.Oaks, or how he had come to call her in the last couple of years, Agent Art Thief. Well, that made two out of three. And explained the ghost shots from out of nowhere. Little Red sitting high up in her nest.

Or not.

Tony mused, because just as he sent another longing look out of the windows into the suit lacking blue air, another figure swung into the room on black rope, rifle held in steady hands, taking out the last standing AIM guy while still swinging down to the ground. But then heavy black bombat boots touched the concrete and the third assassin went down into a low crouch between her equally crouching partners, red hair fanning out on her back, eyes behind the black mask searching the room behind a rifle scope. The same scope that was patched onto her black kevlar jacket in scarlet red.

Shield Strike Commander Sarah Viktora.

\--

And then silence.

\--

Both brunet women raised their hands to pull off the balaclavas then, gracefully straightening up and shifting the knives and stars back into their belts.   
"Hey there, Tony.", Julie and Tess chorused together and all he could come up with was a pathetic little half wave with his fingers. Yeah, you're a frigging casanova, Stark.  
"Cut him down.", the still masked third woman called out before Tony could have said a word, shouldering her rifle and walking over to the computers.

Tess flipped out a smaller knife and leaned up to free Tony's right wrist from the zip-tie, handing over the knife to her friend so Julie could do the same with Tony's left one, letting him massage his sore skin and muscles while they knelt down to quickly cut his ankles free as well.  
"Always something bigger, huh, Tony.", Tess quipped after Julie and her had straightened up again, and Tony tried to glare at her, but at this point he was just too worn thin and on edge, so he simply rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, we'll get Pepper and Colonel Rhodes out of this mess as well."

"Stop the small talk and get Stark a gun. Take their ammunition and their knives.", came the cold order from the still masked woman at the computer, quickly typing away. Julie twirled on one foot and got to work, and soon enough Tony found himself holding a gun, pocket full of spare ammunition, despite his continued protests that his suit would come soon.

"I don't care about soon, Mister Stark.", the clipped voice of the tallest woman came again and he caught sight of her swinging herself over the railing, pulling off the mask finally mid jump, revealing flaming red hair and cutting sharp green eyes, equipped with that same piercing and all seeing stare that Tony was used to from a blue eyed Hawkeye already. It still made him squirm, and Tess chuckled over his fidgeting as the leader approached them on measured steps, "We have hostages still in captivity. The security and electrictiy will go down in two minutes, we need to be ready then, not soon."

And still glaring at him, forcing him down into a control Tony hated to have over his head, Agent Viktora raised her left hand with the simple black bracelet, "Tango Sierra secured. Countdown running. Red Scope calling for report.", she had barely finished talking when there was a sizzing sound edging closer and Tony was suddenly pushed behind three bodies as three hands snapped up with guns pointed in three different direction, Tony raised his belatedly as well.

But oh. Oh. 

"That's mine.", he announced gleefully and stepped forward but arms got slammed into his chest from left and right to hold him back and green eyes flashed dangerously and in pure annoyance. Weapons still lowered, the sizzing got louder and Tony was caged in a starring contest with the terrifying leader of Strike Team Alpha he was now meeting for the first time, as the gauntlet flew into the room and attacked itself to his quickly raised hand.

"Ha, soon, more like right now.", he smirked and behind him Tess groaned, slapping a hand against his ass, Julie lowered her arm and hummed in delight as the light caught the red of the piece of armor. Only Agent Viktora remained motionless aside from a slowly cocked eyebrow when nothing followed the one gauntlet, Tony grimaced.

"Yeah, one hand. How scary.", she deadpanned and then the lights went out, bathing them in the dim light from outside the windows and the blue glow of the arc reactor, "At least you're a good flashlight now. Julie, Tess, up front, I take cover.", and while Julie and Tess manhandled Tony behind them and towards the open door of the corridor, Tony saw Agent Viktora tap the bracelet again, "Strike move in. Let's blow this party."

\--

The corridor was dark once the door had been closed and they hurried through it with guns and one repulsor raised, shifting quickly through the labyrinth of corridors and stairscases, while Agent Viktora kept up a whispered command over the other Strike units. They turned around another corner and then ran into Rhodey in the entrance of the courtyard, and Tony finally got a full suit.

"So, nice meeting, but I gotta go and get my girl.", he announced when the suit was fully assembled and Rhodey was still packing away the ammunition and the gun Tony had thrown at him.  
"Oh yeah, I don't think so, Stark.", he once more got stopped by a slightly prissy Strike leader, "I have men down right now moving in on rescuing Miss Potts and securing valuable intel. There is a chopper coming our way to bring Colonel Rhodes back to base to help find the president. And you are expected at HQ for a very long debriefing session with Director Fury."

Oh hell to the no.

"Yeah, I don't think so.", what followed was probably the most childish argument Tony had had in weeks, and that counted in that he had had an actual argument with a child.

\--

Half an hour later, Pepper was on her way to the hospital after Tony had briefly talked to her and assured her that they would find a cure for Extremis in no time. Rhodey had been sent off with the chopper and a Strike unit to free the president and Fury had deployed Barton and Romanoff to take in Kilian, and left Tony in the hands of Miss Cold-Heartened and her lovely little ladies. And the boot licking bunch of inferior Strike agents.

The mansion got secured and the captured and not killed AIM men lined up kneeling in the dirt, hands bound, mouths gagged. And Tony had stepped out of the suit again, leaving it standing right behind him as Julie and Tess bounded over, kevlar vests off, throwing their arms around him, and he welcomed them with a tired sigh. What a day.

"I was shocked when they declared you dead. If Cap hadn't been in Argentina with Kappa, I'm sure he would have ripped Fury a new one for not doing anything sooner.", Tess explained and prodded at a scratch on Tony's neck, "Sarah was ready to just take a jet and take us out without an official green light when Fury finally gave the command. Why didn't you just ask for help?"  
"Honestly? Didn't think anyone would come. I'm not the world, I'm just Tony Stark.", he said and got punched in the chest from both women.

"You may not mean more than the world, but you're still important to Shield and us, Tony...and to the Captain as well.", Julie admitted with a bright smile, Tony smirked.

"Wow...Cap will just love this.", Tony whispered, subconsciously pulling Julie and Tess even closer, letting himself fall into the sensation of feeling their bodies again, safe, smiling and here. And where had that thought come from? Why wouldn't they be here? Why wouldn't they be safe? Strike agents were like puzzle pieces, one part of a whole, having each other's backs. Hadn't Legolas and Capsicle always said so?

"I sure hope he will like this.", Sarah spoke up again, turning his attention to where she was standing among the rest of the Strike teams, maybe twelve feet from him, Julie and Tess still holding onto him on each side, the suit standing calm but at attention behind him.  
"What do you mean?", Tony asked, slightly confused and green eyes looked at him, and only him, those pale lips curling into a sad little smile as Alpha's leader spoke again.

"Look carefully, Stark, we didn't save you. You did it alone, don't you remember?", and Tony blinked, the buzzing of the unfamiliar Strike agents disappeared, leaving him alone with the girls and the suit in the mansion's courtyard, "We couldn't help, Stark. We're gone, halfway around the world. And no one came to save us, and you know why.", Sarah's voice got cold and hard edged.

Tony felt his heart speed up, felt his breathing become strained, Tess and Julie changed in his arms as they watched him with wide frightened brown eyes. The simple ponytails unraveled into the beautiful do-ups, the black combat suits turned into the breath-taking gowns from the surveillance footage from Odessa's Opera House, the outfits and get up they had worn on the last pictures they had of them.

"Remember, Stark.", Sarah prompted again and Tony stumbled back as Tess and Julie crumbled to the ground, eyes fallen shut, limbs sprawled, unconscious bodies on the grass. Heart hammering against his chest, Tony looked down at himself and saw the arc reactor disappearing, breaths wheezing through his lungs as he watched the hole on his chest become whole again. Terrified right out of his skin now, all learned methods of waking himself up from nightmares so far away, he looked up again to watch the silent and so unmoving figure of Alpha's leader, red hair flying in the wind now, rifle gone, guns no longer strapped to the holsters at her hips.

"Why did no one come to save us? Why did no one try to reach for us, Stark? Why were we left alone? Why did Shield leave us alone?", her voice turned angry, angry and desperate, scared, and Tony wanted to reach up both hands to drag down his face, but he couldn't, couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He didn't know, he didn't have answers, they were looking, they were following all angles, they just didn't have answers, always dead-ends, always nothing, never answers, only ever more questions, "That's not right, and you know the answer, Stark. Think and open your mind.", powerless in wanting to disrespect the order, Tony tried to force his body to move, to react, to just do something but only his eyes complied, opening to stare at the lifeless bodies of the brunet girls, "Look at me, Stark.", and his eyes snapped around upon the scared and frightened whisper of her voice, so different from the cold commanding one just seconds earlier.

He found Sarah still standing on the same spot, body frozen now, hands behind her back, her head raised up slightly, it looked strange to stand like that.  
"Barton is my father, Stark, but he didn't teach me how to become this. I didn't start on Delta, Stark. You can help us, please.", her voice had become unstable, shaking and trembling and cutting off with the hyperventilating terrified breaths she was taking now, green eyes filled with tears.

Think Stark, think, just think, you know the answers, you always knew them, his mind joined right in the frantic pleading but Tony couldn't breathe, he just couldn't breathe and couldn't move and why was he paralyzed. Why couldn't he just help them? Why hadn't he been there? Why was he always forced to find answers, why could he never help? 

Or could he? There had to be an answer, Tony thought as he continued to stare at the wrenched back body of Alpha's leader, people just didn't vanish off the face of the earth, there always had to be an answer, an explanation. He dared a look again at the unconscious bodies of the two brunet agents, maybe they had been attacked by Hydra agents as they suspected, maybe they had made it out and decided to lay low, wait out the shock and then try and run down contacts.

But why then hadn't he gotten a call when nothing at Shield had worked out?

"Because you didn't lay low.", he choked through his words, "If you had gotten out of Odessa, you would have sooner or later contacted me, because Tess trusted me.", his chest was on fire and he still couldn't move but his brain was running on overdrive now, "But none of you did.", before him green eyes looked so scared, so scared and lost and hopeless, tears falling down that pale face. Metallic clicks made him aware of the suit assembling around him, his heart hammering against his rips, he knew he was so close, he knew it was right there at the tip of his tongue, but just why couldn't he see it.

Unable to settle his thoughts into something usable, Tony focused back on the last words Sarah had spoken to him.

"Jarvis, give me the rundown on Agent Viktora again, short version.", Tony breathed out and was willing himself to calm down, he got this, he got this, let himself fall into the safety of the metal forming around his limbs. As long as he was safe, he could save them.  
"Agent Viktora made her Strike beginnings on team Kappa, Sir.", Jarvis voice was soothing in his head and across from him green eyes turned hopeful, or was he imagining that, "She spent half a year as Commander Rumlow's second-in-command while Agent Jack Rollins was recovering from a leg injury. She...", but everything that came after that disappeared behind the ringing sound of the curtain dropping from the stage.

And left and right of Sarah, the black clad figures of Brock Rumlow and Jack Rollins materialized, the smaller one holding a silver shining combat knife to Sarah's pale throat, one hand pressing both of hers behind her back as Rollins slowly walked forwards to get to Tess and Julie, cold emotionless eyes not even bothering to look at him. Tony struggled and struggled and screamed on the inside.  
"Please, Stark, please.", Sarah begged, "Please help me. Help my girls, please make them stop.", and everything came down to just that moment.

They hadn't laid low. They had been taken.

And everything turned silent. His heart slowed, his breathing calmed, all noise vanished, everything turned still and seemed to slow down as the truth unraveled in front of his eyes. Rollins kept on walking, ignorant of Iron Man still standing in the courtyard, but Rumlow turned to look at him slowly, knife still pressed to his former colleague's throat, and the smirk on his disgusting face was almost taunting.

"Come and get me, Stark.", he drawled slowly, "Maybe you'll find them as well.", he offered, flashing his teeth for a deranged grin, "And if you're quick, you might just get them whole.", and everything in Tony burned to the ground and exploded into rage. He threw up his hands and with a deafening roar he used the repulsors in his hands to blast Rollins and Rumlow right off their feet and right into the stone wall at their backs.

When the red cleared out of his vision, the girls were standing again, united and smiling, holding onto each other not far from him, and it was Tess who looked over at him, "I know you can find us, Tony.", she spoke quietly and then smiled and broke away from her girls, taking calm steps over to him. She raised a hand and cupped the face of the suit, cocking her face to the side, she smiled brighter, "We're waiting for you. Just don't stop looking. I trust you to find me, Tony."

"I will."

\--

And Tony gasped awake.

\--

Once his body had caught up with his brain and the aftershocks of that way too vivid dream had subsided enough that Tony dared to get up and actually walk, he trudged into the bathroom and leaned against the sink. Looking at himself in the mirror, he tried to smile, tried to wipe the hopeful longing this dream had conjured up out of his eyes.

Simply a what could have been. But Tony knew there was no life in what ifs. He couldn't change what had happened, none of them could, otherwise Clint and Steve would have turned back time a long time ago already, to get their girls home, to save Barnes, to stop Hydra before Insight was real.

But they couldn't, because time was as always their biggest enemy, one they couldn't conquer, but Tony Stark was good in something he could do. Fixing things. He couldn't change what had happened, but he could fix them now, fix them for the future. There was no going back in time to prevent the girls from going to Odessa and walking into their doom, but they were going to bring them home.

Plashing water into his face, he took a deep breath and then grunted and reached for his shirt, better shower directly, lots to do, Stark.

\--

Three years ago:

Tony looked up and over to Clint sitting forlornly on the couch, eyes red, skin sickly, dark bags showing his struggle to get even five minutes of sleep, "Leave the past in the past. Don't try to change what you cannot reach anymore, set your eyes upon the future. Don't look back on what is lost, you'll only get stuck. Take your memories, your lessons, your mistakes and turn them into something better.", he said and caught blue eyes, "Fix what you can and then move on."

\--

"Steve, wake up, we need to make some calls. I have a new plan."

"It's four am, Tony."

"Not everywhere in the world, big baby, come on, up and at them."

"Tonyyy..."

"Steviiiiie. Moooove it."

"Yes, god, I'm coming."

"Okay, so first, we need to rename our secret project from alpha into something much much cooler."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Tony's Angels."

"Yup, just as bad as expected. Just get me coffee, Tony."

"Don't fall asleep again."

 

\--

Shield's Strike unit Alpha is made up of three highly skilled agents, used in missions all around the world, Sarah Viktora, Julie Seaway and Tess St.Oaks brought home success after success, working themselves up to the second most efficient Strike Team.

But on 17th March 2014 all contact and information about the women are lost when they vanish from the face of the earth, traces going cold at the Opera House in Odessa.

In the fall of 2015, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark finally make a first important step in uncovering their fate. 

\--

Fix what you can, and then move on. In less than five months, Tony Stark would find himself clinging onto every word.

\--

The End


End file.
